Page 4 of Lady of Providence
"Elizabeth Moreland, wherever have you been?" her mother questioned her. "Your father and I have been waiting for nearly an hour now. We must be at the reading of the will in good time in order to hear everything and to make sure that no one does anything unsavory in order to receive their portion of Father's riches. Though the partnership will likely go to your cousin Henry, of course. Oh, if only Terrence had shown more promise, or if you had been a son, Elizabeth, then you might have had the opportunity as my father was always so taken with you.”
"I am so sorry, Mother, to have disappointed you," Elizabeth said dryly.
"That's all right, my dear," her mother sniffed, and Elizabeth wanted to roll her eyes, but now was not the time to cause any type of rift between them. "Now, we must go!"
"Are you excited, Mother?" Elizabeth asked, horrified at the thought, but unfortunately, it seemed to be true, as her mother turned her narrow, pinched face toward her with eyes gleaming in anticipation.
"Of course not," was her mother's denial, though Elizabeth knew far better. As she followed her parents into the carriage, she despaired for what would become of Clarke & Co. were it improperly managed by someone like Henry. She could hardly think on it, though she doubted her grandfather would leave it in Henry’s hands, knowing as she did just what Thomas had thought of her cousin.
But it was a difficult thought to ignore when they entered the drawing room of her grandmother's home. Elizabeth greeted her younger brother, Terrence, who pinched her cheek in a show of affection. Elizabeth loved her brother immensely, as he was the charming sort with a heart of gold, but he also spread his love for others — particularly women — perhaps a bit too far. He had left their home long before in order to take his own rooms at a boarding house, for he told Elizabeth he could no longer take the disapproving stares from his parents regarding the hours he kept nor the questions on where he visited.
Elizabeth greeted her grandmother with a heartfelt embrace — tasteful enough, yet also conveying all she wished to say, for she couldn't tell her exactly what she was feeling at the moment in front of all of these people, family or not.
They were vultures, the lot of them, she decided. When was the last time any of them had ever considered one action that benefited someone besides themselves?
Her mother had two siblings — an older brother, deceased a few years now, who had children of his own, including Henry, and an older sister, the mother of three daughters and a son.
The drawing room had likely never been so full as it was in this moment with all of them gathered. A dapper looking solicitor, his black hair slicked back neatly over his head, sat in front of the lot of them upon a chair with a back as straight as his own.
He raised his spectacles to his eyes and cleared his throat in an attempt to capture their attention but was promptly and decidedly ignored.
He frowned in consternation and attempted one more time with a loud "harumph." Elizabeth felt sorry for him — it mustn't be a pleasant aspect of his job, meeting with grieving families, though besides herself and her grandmother, most of the room did not look particularly unhappy — uneasy, if anything.
Which partially made sense. Thomas Clarke had loved Elizabeth with all of his heart and ensured she knew it; however, he also thought most of his family to be "idiots, the lot of them," and he did not keep silent in his opinions.
Elizabeth sat next to her grandmother on the small settee, grasping her cold hand within hers. Justine Clarke looked straight ahead of her at the man in the chair, saying nothing more to Elizabeth, though she squeezed her hand tightly in thanks for her support as she clearly wanted nothing more than for this entire process to be over.
The solicitor stood and rapped his knuckles on the small writing table that sat beside him until he finally gained the attention of the crowd in front of him. He sighed in such relief that Elizabeth would have laughed had it been under other circumstances, and then sat back down in the wooden chair that had been brought in from another room within the house — likely storage, for Elizabeth's grandmother was proud of her home and always ensured it was within the latest fashion.
This room itself, the drawing room, was a long room on the south side of the house. Sash windows lining the room emitted plenty of daylight, while the white crown molding accented the pale yellow walls, which were lined with beautiful portraits of the family as well as landscapes of the English countryside. The Clarke family had never actually owned a home outside of London since they had moved to the city a couple of generations ago, but Justine had come from a small country town and she enjoyed reminders of home upon her walls.
Today, the furniture had been rearranged to suit the occasion so they were all looking up at the solicitor like churchgoers in front of the pastor. But the funeral itself would come later. This was an entirely different matter.
"Thank you all for your attendance," the solicitor said in a pinched voice. "Please allow me to express my sincere condolences to all of you. I am Mr. Smith, and it has been my pleasure to serve as solicitor to Mr. Clarke over the past few years, as it was for my father for decades prior. Thomas Clarke was a man who prepared for everything in life, and his death was no exception. I have in my hands the will he prepared a few years ago. While my father oversaw the drafting of the will, I was in the room as well and can attest to the fact that he was of sound mind and countenance."
"Get on with it," muttered Henry from two seats over, and Elizabeth leaned around Terrence to glare at him.
"Very well," Mr. Smith said, though he was clearly not at all pleased. After introductory remarks, he began to list the names of the various family members within the room, pronouncing annuities for each of them, none of them insignificant — Thomas Clarke had been a very wealthy man.
"'For the remainder of her life, my estate, besides the annuities previously listed, will be left to my loving wife, Justine,'" he read, and Elizabeth's grandmother barely contained a slight sob. “My home in London, the senior partnership of Clarke & Co., and, upon my wife’s own departure from this earth to join me, my entire estate, will be left to my granddaughter, Lady Elizabeth Moreland.'"
CHAPTER2
Gasps resounded around the room as the solicitor read the last line, a smile covering his face as he had clearly been looking forward to the reaction of the family before him — the family who had not exactly ingratiated themselves to him as they had practically ignored him until the time came to read the contents of the will. Every face in the room was turned toward Elizabeth, who was as shocked as the rest of them. Justine, having obviously been aware of what was within the will, squeezed Elizabeth’s hand and bestowed upon her a watery smile. Terrence’s eyes were wide, but he grinned at Elizabeth when she turned to him and he ever so slightly nodded his head in support, while a murmur began somewhere within the room, growing louder with each passing moment.
Elizabeth could do nothing but sit in stupefied silence.Shewas the senior partner of London's most renowned bank? She had always thought her grandfather was passing on knowledge for her own enjoyment, but she had never considered… this.
"You cannot be serious!" Henry finally called out, and Mr. Smith waved his hands in the air in a gesture telling them all to quiet down.
"Mr. Clarke did leave an explanation if you would like me to read it."
"I should bloody well hope so!" Henry raged.
"Please note that these are his own words and not my own," the solicitor said, looking up at all of the angry faces before him with a faint look of warning before returning his eyes to the page.
"'I am well aware that most of my family will not be pleased with my decision, as they all have some preconceived notion of their own worth. However, it matters not that Lady Elizabeth is a woman. She is the only family member who ever displayed any interest in the workings of the bank. She is the only family member who spent any time with me at all. And she is also the only family member with a head on her shoulders who is intelligent enough to take on such a role.'"
"Well, I never!" Henry's mother, Elizabeth’s Aunt Betsy, exclaimed.
